Island Biking--God Provides Guides For Falls #2

Next we rode BACK UP the huge hill, or rather walked our bikes up. We cut across the island on bumpy roads and got to see the really rural areas of the Philippines. Everything seemed so simple. It seemed we had stepped back in time again to a place with no electricity, farmers, simple living and cooking over fires. We were so happy to buy some fried bananas from the local people.

We saw on the map that there were three caves and another waterfall on the East side of the island. That was our destination for stop #2, but it was very vacant over there, and we were not sure where to cut across from the road. God provided for us again!

After locking our bikes to each others and stashing them in the bushes, we began to trek on a small pathway. I was startled to hear someone coming and then saw two Filipino men appear from the forest carrying huge knives. We were not afraid, though, because we know that those knives are the useful tools the local people use to do practical things. We spoke to them in the local language, and they decided to become our guides to the caves. I was so glad and knew God provided for us!

The first cave was REALLY dark and small--a hole at the bottom of the cliff. Our impromptu guides told us it is very dangerous in there because there are *****. I didn't know that word, but I tried to act out the motion for bats. I'm pretty sure he meant there were bats in there.

Then they took us to waterfall #2, which was WAY off the place that the map marked it. Good thing we had our guides, or else we would have been searching for hours. I saw a HUGE worm thing on the path, glad it was not a snake. Then the guys jumped in the falls for a swim, and I opted not to get wet again since it was almost dark. These falls were pretty, but they were not as tall or mighty as the ones in the mountain we recently visited. There were also lots of misquitoes and red ants, so I told Nate, "I don't think we should sleep here tonight; it will be so scary!" We did return to our bikes in search for a place to sleep for the night.